Prison Estate

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Church Commissioners – in the House of Commons at 4:11 pm on 9 October 2006.

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Photo of John Reid John Reid Home Secretary, The Secretary of State for the Home Department 4:11, 9 October 2006

As it happens, I was not referring to my predecessors or prison places. One of the reasons for that is that my predecessors built almost as many prison places as the previous, Conservative Government in half the time. We have built 16,300 prison places in nine years. The previous Government built approximately 17,000 in 18 years. Far from believing that my predecessors did not build sufficient prison places compared with those who went before them, I know that they built many more pro rata.